[Baldie]

WCS Season 2: Oceania/SEA Qualifiers Feedback

It's that time again to think back on the two weekends that just passed and provide constructive criticism/positive feedback on your experience as a player, spectator, manager etc.

I know this season had a lot of drama around an administration decision during Round of 16 so while I think it has a place to discuss, I would rather discussion on that is kept to a minimum as ultimately moving forward extended will not be used and the mistake will not occur again so there really isn't much else do discuss. To make sure other issues don't occur I personally will read through the WCS handbook again to see what, if anything, should change in accordance to the rules.

Thanks everyone!

[Maynarde]

When the loud caster can hear in his feedback that the microphone is exploding when he yells he should calm the **** down

Otherwise great tournament

Quick Comments

|Erasmus|:

not enough maynarde... #1 complaint ;)

[Elusory]

Suggestion for new way of qualifying for Stage 2

Current format:
Double elimination bracket into qualified players fighting for seeds

Suggested format:
6 Single elimination brackets with 2 to qualify from each day. Higher seeds will be given to those who qualify first. e.g. First two to qualify from Day1 gets Seed 5 and 6 in Day 2, next two to qualify from Day 2 gets Seed 7 and 8 in Day 2.

Pros:
Slightly eliminates bracket luck
Players have more days to feel good
Players who qualify first get to rest and prepare more

Cons:
Need to find 5 extra days to host the qualifiers
Not everyone will be participate in all the qualifiers

I'm pretty sure there are mroe pros and cons to that, but that's just all I can think of now. Main thing is that it seems a bit pointless to play out for seeds for Day 2 currently, because competition here is pretty tight and it kinda doesn't matter who you get in Day 2. Even if you get the highest seed available for Day 1 doesn't mean you'll get an opponent you'll definitely do well against.

Quick Comments

	syfSoundwave:	LOVE this idea. It's how America and Europe do things.
	x5.Crescendo:	I'll second this motion. Love the multiple-qualifier format in other regions
	Philosopher:	The problem I see with this is logistical. Not sure how much money Blizzard gives to ACL to run these things.

[Dingobloo]

I'd like to praise how punctual it was, at least on this side of the stream it seemed to run on time, which is one of those things that people tend to ignore until it goes really wrong so I just thought I'd offer a big thumbs up for that.

Also big ups to the overlays, the studio, just the production in general I guess has steadily improved over time and was really solid this time around, the casting as always was great.

Not sure how everyone feels about it being over two weekends but to me for me, while it gave challenger plenty of space and not everything had to be a marathon which were definite positives but I think there was a lack of finality that accompanied the stage two weekend and made the challenger weekend lack some punch. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things but something worth noting.

Looking forward to the next one.

[syfChadMann]

Expanding on Elusory's suggestion;

Why not remodel things to be like the EU system? might be excessive, considering the size of our player pool compared to EU. But it works well for them The multiple qualifiers and then a 2nd chance invite qualifier.

As for the production, I would seriously suggest adding a Stream delay of about 3-4 mins to increase the legitimacy of the results and remove the potential to stream cheat.

Other than that, everything seemed to go well, the games were amazing and I have not heard of many issues from the players, who are the most important people to keep happy

[Pox]

I agree that in the current format most of Day 1 is solely determining seeding (we were casting matches between qualified players at the 2:15:00 mark of the 8.5 hour stream), but I think the main reason for this is that it really doesn't take long to narrow down <64 players to 12, even in double elimination. Running the iterative EU-style qualifiers seems like a lot of work that's largely unnecessary when you consider our playerbase. The only real benefit I see is the decrease in variance - it would definitely cut down on bracket luck as a factor.

Quick Comments

syfChadMann:

Agreed great for decreasing variance, but could be too much extra effort..

[Maynarde]

Originally Posted by fray`ChadMann

As for the production, I would seriously suggest adding a Stream delay of about 3-4 mins to increase the legitimacy of the results and remove the potential to stream cheat.

There was like a 5 min delay afaik

Quick Comments

syfChadMann:

Ohh.. my apologise, I heard there was zero delay.. o_O

[SLCN.NXZ]

Originally Posted by Maynarde

There was like a 5 min delay afaik

I believe this was only for challenger not for the top 16.

[SLCN.Wally]

From a player's stand point I agree with elusory, I'm sure people would volunteer to admin if acl peeps can't admit multiple qualifiers

[Eddie]

6 qualifiers might be overkill for the size of our region, and a lot of work!

Perhaps 3, with 4 qualifying spots from each?

Multiple qualifiers would allow for different start times/days to be more accommodating to players, and more chances to be streamed/qualify ofcourse.

[Baldie]

Will look into structure changes but no promises on any changes.

Stream delay was default for Round of 16 then bumped to 5 minutes on Challenger. We will operate with a delay for both broadcast days next season.

What are your thoughts on a Saturday Challenger? Do you like it or would you prefer a Sunday challenger?

[Philosopher]

I personally prefer a Sunday challenger, just because I go to the library on Saturday #StudyNerd. But I think a Saturday challenger works just fine, no real problems with it.